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NZ Pine trees

Started by Ianab, October 29, 2017, 02:39:49 AM

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Ianab

Thought some of you might like to see how pines grow here in NZ. I don't usually saw it, but a friend wanted one to "go away", and I want to rebuild a wall in my workshop, and some pine will work great for that.

Not a pretty tree as it's open grown and unpruned, but hey it's free.


And had plenty of room to drop it into an open paddock.


The stump for scale.


Almost a metre across.


And almost an inch between growth rings.


The outer rings got a bit hard to count as they were indistinct and seemed to have false rings, but I'm going with 25-28 years old.
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

Ljohnsaw

That's some pretty fast growth! :o
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

Riwaka

How big was the safety document you had to write before the tree was felled? I was given a safety document that went to 70 pages (pdf) this year for chopping a few trees down.
Radiata pine genome is 8 times bigger than the human one.
https://www.scionresearch.com/about-us/news-and-events/news/2017/radiata-pine-genome-draft-assembly-completed
I think the NZ timber people? prefer the forest pines that are slower radially growing than the farm trees in places?
http://www.nzffa.org.nz/nzffa-member-blogs/denis-hockings-blog/radiata-pine-wood-quality/  (their more detailed articles around)

Even back in the day, some NZ forests would use hand slashers (similar to US- brush hooks) to cut back  the top central  leader off the young radiata pine trees to slow down their growth.



thecfarm

I had some big white pines,but the growth rings was not that wide.  :o  I had to count to about 70-90 to get a tree that size.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

mike_belben

I dont think we have anything in america that grows that fast, except maybe kudzu!
Praise The Lord

teakwood

Wow :o that is some serious growth!

that is alot faster than teak, 1m at 28years! Had no idea that in your climate the trees grow that fast.  isn't it pretty cold in NZ for such a fast growth?
National Stihl Timbersports Champion Costa Rica 2018

Ianab

Climate here is "Temperate Rainforest". Winter has frosts and sometimes a little snow, but apart from that maybe a 10 month growing season. Lots of rain of course. Not everýthing grows that fast though. Most of the native trees grow pretty slow. A Rimu might be 200 years to get that big.
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

Ianab

Got back to the mill today for a while, bucked most of the log into shorter sections (the height of the wall I'm building + some trim). I'm also scaling and keeping notes on all the logs. This is the 4th log up the tree and ~19" on the small end. International scale says 122 bd ft. Quick count of the boards came to 121 bd/ft of 6x1 and 2x1, plus a pile of stickers. So pretty much spot on there.



A few knots as you would expect, but good wall panelling.

Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

nativewolf

Really enjoy the posts from NZ.  My forestry profs did a lot of work in NZ on Radiata pine so I knew they were fast growers, do they still emply Maori to prune them?  Saw videos of that from the 1988? when they were doing a tour, hand pruning logs, it was amazing plantation growth.
Liking Walnut

Ianab

Yeah they are still pruned by hand if you want high value logs. Pruned logs sell for a LOT more than unpruned because they saw out a much higher % of high value clear wood. A lot of Maori and Pacific Island guys work on the crews.
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

KWood255

That tree is very impressive. Here in Northwesten Ontario (Canada) our biggest tree is a white spruce. I have many on my land that I cannot wrap my arms around. They are well in excess of 100 years old.

Ianab

Give a local pine tree 100 years and you end up with something like this.  :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6uqmidwQTI
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

nativewolf

Quote from: Ianab on November 01, 2017, 02:24:33 PM
Yeah they are still pruned by hand if you want high value logs. Pruned logs sell for a LOT more than unpruned because they saw out a much higher % of high value clear wood. A lot of Maori and Pacific Island guys work on the crews.

Interesting and glad to hear that's still going on.  Our school, NC State, was famous for forestry genetics and that was a big part of the tour I am sure.  The one prof, Dr. Zobel, sort of pioneered advanced forest tree improvement.
Liking Walnut

Ianab

So the pine is dry now. I've rigged up a Borate dip for the boards, just a nice strong borax solution in a big stainless tub. Dip the boards in that for a minute, then leave them to dry. Because of our climate we have borer that will sometimes get into pine, hopefully a mouthfull of borate will discourage that.

Workshop wall is 1/2 done, and considerably more sturdy than before. I had thought the shed was pretty well built, with a couple of stacked 2x12 beams running the length of the shed. Well the 2x12 were there, but they weren't really attached to anything (like the end walls of the shed) They are now, with some actual full size 2x4s, and a Port Orford cedar bottom plate bolted to the concrete at the bottom.

Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

mike_belben

Praise The Lord

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